Pound Cake

This is a simple cake; and that's what I love about it. Start with the basic recipe - delicious as is - and take it for a spin by adding a few spices, or citrus zest, a flavored extract, or even herbs. Or dress it up with a tastey glaze that makes the basic cake lean into seasonal flavors.  ...though a dollop of whipped cream and fresh berries, or even a simple dusting with powdered sugar is fine too.

Ingredients*

1½ C sugar

1 C butter, softened

3 eggs

2 C flour

½ tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°

Prepare a loaf pan* - grease the pan, line with parchment leaving parchment overhaning the long sides.

     A double recipe bakes nicely in a bundt pan!

Cream butter & sugar.

Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one.

Beat in flour & salt alternately with milk; mix just until incorporated.

Bake 60-70 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove form pan to wire rack to cool completely.

Apple Cider Cake

(photo coming soon!)

Ingredients

3 C flour

3 tsp cinnamon + ½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 C brown sugar

1 C sugar

1 C vegetable oil

½ C buttermilk

¼ C apple butter

2 tsp vanilla

1½ C apple juice/cider - boiled, reduced to ½ cup

1 Honeycrisp (or similar) apple, peeled & grated

¼ C butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt or fluted tube pan.

Whisk together dry (first 7) ingredients, including 3 tsp cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar, 2/3 C white sugar, oil, buttermilk, apple butter, vanilla, and reduced apple cider.

Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring to combine. Toss shredded apple with remaining dry ingredients, and add to batter. 

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan about 15 minutes, then invert pan onto wire rack; cool completely.

Combine remaning sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon in a small bowl.

Brush melted butter evenly over cake; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Delicious as is, or... with caramel drizzle or caramel whipped cream.

Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate)

Ingredients:
1 C butter

3 T cocoa powder

2 C flour

2 C sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ C buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour* a jelly roll pan (13x18" baking sheet with a 1" lip).

Melt butter in meadum saucepan; stir in 1 C water and cocoa powder, bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl, wisk together eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.

Stir melted butter mixture into dry ingredients; then stir in milk, egg and vanilla mixture.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

* I often use a mixture of flour and cocoa powder to prepare pans for chocolate cakes.

Frost as desired.

For an almost pourable chocolate glaze/frosting...

Ingredients

½ C butter

¼ C milk

3 T cocoa powder

2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

dash salt

Directions

Melt  butter over medium heat. Stir in milk and cocoa powder and bring just to a boil.

In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and salt; stir in melted chocolate mixture. Add vanilla stirring until smooth. Pour and spread over sheet cake.

'Churro Cake' with Spiced Chocolate Sauce

I've made this 'churro cake' before (recipe courtesy of Food Network). Just now I'm playing with some of my recipes--reducing the ingredient amounts and adjusting the baking times so my Baking & Pastry students can get baking experience without making full-sized cakes and pies every day...both for health and budgetary reasons! 😁

The cakes are brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with sugar-cinnamon, and drizzled or served with a spiced chocolate sauce. I like the flavors, but I'm not wild about how the sugar-cinnamon adds a 'gritty' texture into the sauce. Personally, I'd just throw a little extra cinnamon into the cake; there's already plenty of sugar and sweetness. But, it IS very churro-like to have the sugar-cinnamon coating.

Just a note: The mini-bundt pans we have in the student kitchens do NOT have a hole in the center, just an indentation; I have not completely filled a center-hole with chocolate sauce. (Not that that would be bad, of course...!)

Strawberry Cornmeal Layer Cake

Eating Well just published this recipe (June 2021) for a cornmeal cake...layered with strawberries and yogurt whipped cream.

I've tried a few different corn-cake recipes in the past; still haven't found one I'm really in love with. This one tasted fine; it includes a bit of orange juice and zest (as have others), and I used an oragne-infused olive oil -- which wouldn't be necessary, but boost the flavor even a little more. Flavor is fine, but it's a very 'hearty' cake. Dense. Heavy. It is a cornMEAL cake, so I suppose that's to be expected.

I'm still looking for a lighter version, still big on corn-y flavor. I'll post one if I find or develop a good recipe! But this does get props for the zing that comes with the orange as well as the yogurt that's folded into the whipped cream layer, which was better than I thought it would be!

Mirror Glaze ...on naturally red (?) Red Velvet Cake

 Warning: This is much longer than my typical recipe post!! Definitely more 'bloggy' about the process...for my own record mostly. 

I wanted to try out a mirror glaze technique, but figured  I might as well try a new cake recipe while I was at it. Not that I really need more and more cake recipes (!) but Cooking Light has a red velvet recipe that is "naturally red" by using beets. I already have a red velvet cake recipe; like most, it uses red food coloring. I also have a chocolate beet cake recipe that I love. It's not red; however, it does call for cocoa powder (and I often use dark cocoa powder) and dark chocolate and brown sugar...all of which contribute to masking the color of the beets (and flavor...the beets just make the cake wonderfully moist!).

Cooking Light's recipe for "naturally red" velvet cake IS natural (no red food coloring), but...not very red. I used a light (well, 'normal') cocoa powder, not dark, to let the color come through. The beets, again, result in a wonderfully moist cake. But if the desire is for a red velvet cake, I don't think I'd use this one. Still, it was a fine cake for testing out mirror glazing.

I made a few small cakes for practicing on rather than one larger cake.

I experimented with a miror glaze recipe that uses sweetened condensed milk; others use corn syrup which I am not opposed to (I know some people think it's evil and to be avoided). Might be worth experimenting to see how it impacts opacity...

The glaze, either way, is quite runny. That does make it easier for smooth, complete 'sheets' of glaze dripping down the sides, but it was a bit thin in many spots and, as you can see in the photo, a LOT drips right off the cakes. If you work reasonably quickly, you wouldn't have to be super fast, you could re-use the 'drippings', though that might work better with a single, solid color.

And it's really important with a thin glaze to make sure your 'crumb coat' of base frosting is very smooth, and relatively thick since you can see through the thin glaze in quite a few spots.

I was working with two colors to see how easy (or challenging) it would be to marble them. Not difficult at all as long as you're not trying to be too exact. Throw on some sprinkles and edible glitter dust, pipe colored frosting (not more runny glaze!) around the bottom -- or use more sprinkles, chopped nuts, etc. -- to hide the bottom drip edge and it looks pretty good!

Next time, I think I'll thicken it a little with a higher ratio of (white) chocolate - see below. But not too much as it hinders marbling and a smooth-surfaced, shiny glaze. This recipe makes enough to glaze a two-layer 8" cake (or 9") ...as long as you don't drip TOO much down coating the sides.

Ingredients

1 ¼-ounce pkg unflavored gelatin powder

¼ C + 3 T water

¾ C sugar

1/3 C sweetened condensed milk

 6 oz white 'chocolate' chips

gel food coloring(s)

optional: edible glitter and sprinkles for decorating

Directions

Mis en place* all of your ingredients, including cakes pre-frosted with a base of icing spread very smoothly and refrigerated overnigh or frozen for at least 2 hours; this helps the gelatin in the mirror glaze to set.

* Mis en place: Gather ALL of the utensils and equipment you will need and pre-measure all of your ingredients so you have everything you need, ready to move from one step to the next without things just sitting (cooling, setting or hardening when they shouldn't be!) while you're looking for the next needed tool or ingredient.

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons of the water; stir, let sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine remaining water, sweetened condensed milk and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve all sugar. Remove from heat; stir in gelatin until completely dissolved.

Pour hot mixture over chocolate pieces in a heat proof (glass or metal) bowl; let sit 3-5 minutes until chocolate pieces are very soft. Stir until totally melted and well combined. If needed, strain through fine mesh sieve. (Some 'white chocolate' baking morsels have additives that help them retain their chip form during baking -- great for cookies, not so great for mirror glaze.)

If two colors are desired for marbling, divide mixture and color each as desired.

Pour the colored glaze(s) over the cake, starting at the edges, drizzling to evenly coat the sides, then swirling over the top surface. (If you want to try combining the colors in one bowl to pour out a marbled effect, check out Step Nine in these instructions from Food Network.)

I had a 6" cake left after my blue-purple glaze -- reserved because I wanted to try a chocolate (semi-sweet) mirror glaze...for flavor as well as to see how it looked.

The darker chocolate loses its shine more quickly, but even the white chocolate had a decidedly more matte finish after 24 hours. The marbling still gave it a nice look, just not shiny.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet is not one of my favorites; it's not 'bad', but I'd prefer a straight out chocolate cake -- without the food coloring and with mroe chocolate! But red velvet continues to be popular, and it is colorful especially around some holidays. Independence Day is as good of an excuse as any. This recipe has nice texture, moist yet with a good 'crumb', and holds a nice crown.

Ingredients
½ C butter, softened
¾ C sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
½ C sour cream
¼ C buttermilk
2 T red food color
1¼ C flour
¼ C cocoa powder
½ t soda
½ t salt

Directions
Prehead oven to 350°F.

Cream butter and sugar (3-4 minutes). Beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in sour cream and buttermilk until well combined; it may 'break' (not to worry...).

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients; mix into batter until just combined.

Scoop into paper lined muffin tins. Bake 20-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Red velvet is traditionally frosted with cream cheese frosting.

Vanilla Cake

I do already have a vanilla cake recipe posted; but I'm always looking for the "best" cake recipe -- especially one that will bake and hold a good, tall crown when making cupcakes. Might not be what I'd want when baking a larger cake when a flatter, even surface is desirable. This one--a combination of a few different recipes I've tried--is fairly good (for crowning) even if not super tall; better than others I've tried that often come out of the oven with a nice dome, but tend to fall as they cool.
   These cupcakes (photo) I filled with some slightly thinned blackberry jam (blackberries grow in my field, so I have easy access to fresh berries every summer), frosted with blackberry-vanilla buttercream, and drizzled with blackberry syrup.

Ingredients
2½ C flour (cake flour is best)
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
¾ C butter, softened
1¾ C sugar
3 eggs, room temp is best
2 t vanilla
1½ C buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tins with paper liners (makes about 30); or...lightly coat 2 8-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment.

Sift together, flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and 1 C sugar until very pale yellow and fluffy. Beat in remaining sugar and eggs, scraping the bowl down frequently, until mixture is well blended, smooth and thick.

Mixing on low speed, add dry ingredients by thirds, alternating with buttermilk until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

Pour or scoop batter into prepared pans/muffin cups.

Bake cupcakes 22-24 minutes; 8-inch pans 40-45 minutes (tops should spring back when lightly pressed).

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I was originally inspired to try a peanut butter cake after seeing a peanut butter & banana cupcake combination. That would probably be worth trying too, but I had chocolate ready to use up, so I went that direction this time.

I wasn't sure if these would have strong enough peanut butter flavor -- there's not that much peanut butter. The peanut oil helps bump up the flavor, and it does come through (though I might still like it stronger). I filled these with a little dark chocolate pudding, frosted them with a chocolate French buttercream, and rolled the edges in chopped peanuts.

Ingredients
½ C creamy peanut butter
1 C sugar (I use brown)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
3 T peanut oil
¼ C applesauce
1½ C flour
2 t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 C buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream sugar and peanut butter. Add vanilla and eggs, mixing until light and fluffy. Stir in oil and applesauce.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add alternately with buttermilk until well combined.

Divide batter evenly in 24 muffin cups; do not overfill! Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Pound Cake

I'm not a huge fan of pound cake, but it's fine. I love chocolate, so I figured I'd give a chocolate pound cake a try.

Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
1¼ C sugar
1/3 C heavy cream
½ C + 2 T cocoa powder
¼ tsp espresso powder
3 eggs
2 t vanilla extract
1½ C flour
½ tsp salt


Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat 5x9" loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray; line with parchment paper for easy removal.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Meanwhile, warm cream and mix with cocoa powder and espresso to form a paste. Let cool, if needed (so as not to melt butter); beat into creamed butter and sugar.

Add eggs and vanilla; beat until well combined. Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined.

Scoop batter into loaf pan. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Spaghetti & Meatball Cupcakes

500 Recipes posted!! WooHoo!!

That's a milestone!

Okay, so this one really isn't a new recipe...just an idea I saw and had to try. :) And it uses and combines some of my already-posted recipes...

Every fall (October or November), I hold a "Cupcake Wars!" event for my high school culinary students. They come up with some creative ideas. I -- of course -- can't compete, but they always inspire me. So this year I made a batch of mock Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes just for fun.

I used the olive oil cake recipe, vanilla butter cream icing piped on in a messy pile, chocolate crisped rice cereal (cheap knock-off version of Cocoa Krispies or Cocoa Pebbles) shaped into 'meat'-balls, with raspberry jam/syrup drizzled over the 'meatballs' as marinara, and a dusting of grated white chocolate for the look of parmesan.

Just fun!

Olive Oil Cake

There are a variety of different olive oil cake recipes around. This is a personal adaptation, borrowing from a few different recipes. I wanted an option that was not overly strong on the lemon flavor (or orange...some recipes include orange zest as well). Of course, if you want to boost the lemon flavor, increase the amount of zest or drizzle the cake with a lemon juice and powdered sugar glaze.

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 C sugar
1 T lemon zest
1¾ C flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ C butter
¾ C olive oil
3 T cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 10" round (or a 9x9" square), or lightly coat with non-stick cooking spray.

In mixing bowl, beat eggs with sugar and zest until pale and thickened.
While it's beating, combine flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl, and butter olive oil and cream in another.

Add dry and wet ingredients, alternately (begin and end with dry). Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake approximately 30 minutes, until cake is lightly browned and pulls away from sides of pan.

Let cool. For a light, clean cake... simply dust with powdered sugar to serve. Of course it's fine to dress it up with whipped cream, some fruit compote or other icings...

Flourless Chocolate Cake (...Torte)

This is better than the flourless chocolate cake recipe I've made before. ANY flourless cake I've made before has left me disappointed if I really want a cake. Even if the flavor is good, the texture isn't ever light or fluffy enough to satisfy my expectations. This recipe isn't light and fluffy  enough to be a cake, but if you call it a torte (which is typically layered, but also typically has little to no flour and is more dense)...  The flavor is rich and intensely chocolatey!

Ingredients
3 eggs
¾ C sugar
1 C semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chips or chopped
½ C butter
C unsweetened cocoa powder (I use dark)
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla


Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Grease (or lightly coat with non-stick cooking spray) an 8" round pan. Beat together eggs and sugar until well blended.

Place chocolate and butter in double boiler (or a microwave safe bowl) and melt gently.

Combine melted chocolate and butter with egg & sugar mixture. Add cocoa powder, salt and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Pour into prepared pan; bake 25 minutes. (Toothpick test is NOT effective to test for doneness.)

Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before turning onto serving plate.

Serving suggestions: Top with chocolate ganache, drizzle with raspberry coulis, caramel sauce...

Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 C butter
2 C sugar
2 T lemon zest
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
3 C flour
2 T baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 C whole milk
2½ T lemon juice
Optional: lemon wedges and mint leaves to garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl; set aside. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and very pale. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest. Next, alternately blend in dry ingredients, milk and lemon juice.

Fill cupcake liners ¾ full; bake 15-18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool on a rack.

Frost with lemon buttercream, or citrus cream cheese icing.

Chocolate Cake

I still love the denser (almost pound-cake-like) chocolate beet cake. But for a more basic version, I find this one's a bit moister and richer than the chocolate cake recipe I've used previously.

Ingredients
2 C sugar
1¾ C flour
¾ C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T unsweetened dark cocoa powder*
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk
1 C coffee*
½ C vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla

* I used more of the dark cocoa powder...simply a matter of preference. And I don't like coffee; a little coffee boosts the dark/bitter flavor of the chocolate without any strong coffee flavor taking over the cake, but a whole cup is too much for me! However, any similar liquid option will do. Water doesn't alter the flavor. Fruit juices could be fun to try (orange, cranberry, raspberry, pomegranate...). I stuck with water this time knowing I had chopped peanuts and caramel as a filling between a couple layers...

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour pans, or coat with non-stick cooking spray, and line bottoms with parchment. 2 9" pans, 1 9x13" pan, or cupcake tins.

Whisk together (or use low setting of electric mixer) sugar, flour, cocoa(s), baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.

Pour batter (which will be thin) evenly into pans. Bake...about 30-35 min for rounds, 35-40 min for 9x13, 18-22 min for cupcakes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to finish cooling on wire rack.

Frost as desired.

Yellow Cake (2)

I already have a yellow cake recipe, but it was a bit dry. I came across another, richer version. This is a combination or compromise of the two, and much better. Delicious with chocolate frosting, or topped with fresh berries and whipped cream!

Ingredients
1 C butter
1¼ C sugar
2 eggs
4 egg yolks*
2 tsp vanilla
¾ C milk
2 C cake flour*
1 T baking powder
½ tsp salt

* For a less rich cake -- and lighter yellow color -- substitute 2 eggs for the 4 yolks (for 4 eggs total). All purpose flour works too, though the cake will not be quite as finely textured. If you'd like, you can reduce the flour by 2 T and add cornstarch instead for a substitute for cake flour.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour two 8" pans, or coat with non-stick spray.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until well combined.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture by thirds, alternately with milk blending after each addition. Divide evenly between pans (or scoop into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers). Bake 25 minutes (or approx 18 minutes for cupcakes).

Cool in pans 15 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.

Pumpkin Bars

Generally I bake these in a jelly roll pan (baking sheet with a 1" lip) and cut them into bars, though they're more cake-like in texture than like a bar cookie. I'd love a good pumpkin cookie recipe, but I've yet to find a good recipe that really has a cookie-like texture. Most of them are more cake or muffin like in texture. I baked some of these up like mini cupcakes recently (pictured), and that worked just fine too. 

Ingredients
1¹/₃ C sugar
4 eggs
½ C oil
½ C applesauce
15 oz pumpkin puree
2 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour (or coat with non-stick cooking spray) a jelly roll pan or line with parchment.

Blend first 5 ingredients until smooth. Combine dry ingredients, including spices; add to pumpkin mixture. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing and spreading as needed to an even depth.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes until center is dry (the 'clean toothpick' test works here).

Top with sweetened whipped cream, cream cheese frosting, or a simple powdered sugar icing.
Or do like I did: I didn't use a recipe for the topping...just blended cream cheese with some maple syrup, a little cinnamon, folded in some whipped cream...

Vanilla-Prosecco Pound Cake

To give credit, this recipe may have come from Better Homes & Gardens. A search on their website didn't turn up anything however, so I can't be sure. It's a decent pound cake, but nothing outstanding -- especially considering all the vanilla paste and prosecco. I'd leave off the glaze next time, dust it with a little powdered sugar and serve it with fresh fruit...and save the prosecco to drink with it (use fruit juice IN the cake).

Ingredients
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 C prosecco (or other sparkling wine)*
3 T sour cream
2 C sugar
¾ C unsalted butter, melted
¼ C canola or safflower oil
5 eggs, cold
2 T vanilla paste (or extract)

Icing ingredients: 1 C powdered sugar, 1 T sparkling wine

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease and flour a 10" tube pan; set aside.

In large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt; set aside.

In large bowl of stand mixer, beat sugar, melted butter, and oil until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Continue to beat on medium to high 3-5 minutes until thicker and lighter in color.

Add a third of flour mixture, beating on low until just combined. Add half prosecco mixture next, then another third of flour, then remaining prosecco, then flour; beat until just combined after each addition.

Pour or spoon batter into prepared tube pan. Bake 50-55 minutes, until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Turn out of pan, onto rack; cool completely. Drizzle with prosecco glaze.


* For an alcoholic-free pound cake, substitute milk or a fruit juice. Fruit juices will, of course, alter the flavor...but that might be an intentional choice!

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Light and moist. The recipe is plenty for three full layers; 9" rounds or 8" squares... Do you have three pans? Or 48 cupcakes! (lower photo...decorated for Halloween treats for my classes) I use dark cocoa powder (because I like it!), but that's not necessary of course. Both this cake and the frosting use sour cream; but the cake is also delicious with vanilla, cream cheese, or peanut butter frosting...a layer of raspberry jam between the layers...
Vanilla frosting with a splash of orange (color and flavor) may be what I use this week, since it's Halloween soon.

Ingredients (cake)
1 C (dark) cocoa powder
1 C HOT water
1 C butter, softened
2½ C sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
3 C cake flour*
2 t baking soda
½ t baking powder
½ t salt
1 C sour cream

* substitution: 7/8 C all purpose flour + 2 T corn starch = 1 C cake flour

Directions (cake)
Pre-heat oven to 350˚.

Generously grease and flour 3 9-inch baking pans (or 8-inch squares). Note: I use parchment paper; this cake is light and tender...and can break and crumble easily coming out of pans.

Dissolve cocoa in hot water; set aside to cool.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Stir in sour cream.

Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed mixture; beating on low speed. Stir in cocoa mixture until well combined.

Divide evenly between three pans; bake 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans; cool completely on wire racks.


Ingredients (frosting)
12 oz chocolate chips
½ C butter, cubed
1 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
4½ - 5 C powdered sugar

Directions (frosting)
Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave; stir until smooth. Cool 5 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; stir in sour cream and vanilla. Add powdered sugar 1 C at a time until light and fluffy. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake. Store in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream

Though it's been on the website at least since last fall, I saw this one in the latest Food Network Magazine. It just seemed...like a bite of fall. If I made it again, I think I'd reduce the filling a little...or reduce it and fold in a little whipped cream. It was delicious, but very rich, and generous on the filling.

Ingredients
For the cake...
¾ C flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
3 eggs, @ room temp.
1 C sugar
¾ C canned pumpkin
¼ C powdered sugar
          plus extra for dusting

For the filling...
12 oz mascarpone cheese
1¼ C powdered sugar
2 T heavy cream
¼ C minced crystallized ginger (dry, not in syrup)


Directions
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pumpkin-roulade-with-ginger-buttercream.html